AWL National Committee 05/09/04
Next meeting: Saturday 13 November 2004, noon to 6pm, Lucas Arms, 245A Grays Inn Road, London WC1.
Hijab discussion remitted to next meeting.
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Documents/ motions adopted by the NC
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Autumn-winter 2004
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The outlines of our orientation were set by our conference in May. There is a diffuse and hesitant, but quite widespread, political ferment around us. Our job is to attract, assemble, regroup, educate and organise activists from that ferment to build up a force within it for independent working-class ("Third Camp") politics. Gaining new young activists is especially important.
There are few ready-made milieus where we can find the best activists ready-assembled. To a large extent we have to build ourselves a periphery by our own efforts to reach out.
In the coming months, we will be campaigning in the broad labour movement against the union leaders' pact with Blair, for trade-union self-assertion in politics, and for the perspective of a workers' government. We will mobilise in support of industrial battles - where and what they will be, we can't predict.
As an essential baseline for all this, we need to improve the routines by which we make the AWL visible and attractive to new people, and able to draw them in and integrate them. The office will gear its efforts to helping get the AWL out on the streets more, and to helping increase the vitality of regular local AWL meetings.
1. Meetings
As our Organiser's Pack puts it:
"The local AWL branch meeting should be the centre of every comrade's political week. If meetings are businesslike, attractive, interesting, well-attended and regular (weekly), then a lot of matters will be sorted out almost automatically. If they are not, no amount of effort can compensate".
The office will produce Activist Notes weekly, on a Monday, focusing it on items for the agenda of that week's meeting of each branch. (Leeds and Leicester branches, and the London AWL committee meet on Mondays; Manchester, Nottingham, PCS and Tube on Tuesdays; Sheffield, Birmingham, South West London, Lewisham, North London, Southampton and Newcastle on Wednesdays; Norwich on Thursdays).
Branch organisers are asked to ensure:
- that branch meetings always discuss political reports (on the current situation), always looking at practical conclusions for the branch's work (be they only motions to comrades' next trade-union branch meetings);
- that the meetings are businesslike enough to organise and monitor the bulk of members' activity;
- that minutes are taken in meetings, a copy is sent to the office;
- that each meeting checks implementation of decisions from the previous meeting;
- that branch meeting discussions include reports and discussion on motions which are to be put, or have been put, by members to their trade union branches (trade-union activity must not be allowed to become detached from the rest of our work);
- that they have public or open meetings on a regular monthly routine;
- in short, that the branch has a reliable, businesslike, accessible routine of meetings capable of attracting and integrating new activists.
Topics for public or open meetings in the coming months can include: Iraq; Lenin (80 years on); Guevara; Where now for the "awkward squad"?; the US elections.
The office will contact every branch organiser around the time of every branch meeting to discuss the political report for the meeting; other items to be raised; and the outcome of the meeting. The office will organise speakers for public and open meetings when required (though it is also important that branches develop their own members as speakers).
2. Educationals
The office will organise systematic short induction courses for new recruits, dealing with half a dozen key items from our basic education programme. It will upgrade, and make available on the website, materials for the short course and the full basic education programme.
Branch organisers are asked to ensure that new recruits (and others) are organised to attend that short induction course within weeks of joining. Nominal recruits who are unwilling to attend the induction course within, say, two months of signing up, should no longer be considered members.
Branch organisers are asked to ensure that every branch is running a systematic study course - normally on Capital, or one of the other courses for which materials are available on our website. These courses should be open to the public, and experience shows that they can attract contacts.
The office will help with provision of study materials; organise "tutors' schools" to help comrades learn how to lead study courses; and help branch organisers to organise a series of regional schools over autumn and winter on Lenin.
3. Circulation
The office will devote more resources to pushing circulation of our literature.
Branch organisers are asked to ensure:
- that every branch has a regular street presence, with street stalls and public sales;
- that these are well-equipped (flags on the stall, petitions to hand, etc.);
- that every member participates in this public activity;
- that new recruits are inducted into such activity promptly;
- and that sympathisers, contacts, and friends of the AWL are systematically invited to help with this activity.
They are also asked to ensure - by discussion in branch meetings, by individual explanation, and by discussion after the event in case of failures - that every member always carries papers with them, and always offers papers for sale when they attend a meeting or strike up a political conversation.
They are asked to organise a regular system of paper distribution in the branch which ensures that every member has received papers by the Saturday at latest. This will generally involve a public sale or stall at which members will collect papers, plus someone driving papers round to those not at the sale or stall. Activists and sympathisers at remote addresses will be sent papers by post from the office.
The office will provide petitions for use on sales, downloadable from our website. It will monitor and encourage branch sales. It will also make a drive to increase and improve distribution through bookshops.
4. Students
We have a larger contingent of young AWL members starting at university this academic year than for many years past. They give us an important chance to develop an attractive AWL presence in the colleges, one we can't afford to miss.
Branch organisers are asked to make sure that student comrades and organised and supported in developing a strong No Sweat presence in colleges, generally through working in or with People and Planet groups.
They are asked to help develop a conception of No Sweat campaigning which draws on the experience of United Students Against Sweatshops in the USA - reaching out broadly, working to definite medium-term plans and time-scales - rather than have No Sweat activity which is limited to a series of propaganda meetings.
They are asked to ensure that the issues are discussed through in the branch and that arguments in favour of stand-offishness and snootiness ("they're all middle-class do-gooders", etc.) are dealt with.
They are also asked to ensure a good AWL presence at student freshers' fairs, and regular AWL stalls and sales at campuses.
The office is organising a student fraction meeting on 4 September, a No Sweat speaking tour with a Haitian trade unionists, and AWL and No Sweat presences at the ESF on 14-17 October. It will help branches mobilise people to cover the student freshers' fairs.
5. Iraq
We have a political duty of solidarity with the new labour movement in Iraq. Iraq is also a key issue where we can seize on people's immediate interest to pull them towards independent working-class politics in general.
The office will:
- Circulate the petition calling for support for the NATFHE motion to the TUC which proposes a campaign of solidarity with the Iraqi trade unions;
- Develop the Iraqi Workers' Solidarity Group as an information centre - a contact point for information, briefings, literature, model motions, and speakers;
- Help organise some benefits and similar fund-raising events.
Branch organisers are asked to ensure that their branches use these materials, by e.g.:
- Taking proposals for speakers, appeal donations, etc. into trade union branches where we have members and contacts;
- Helping to organise workplace collections for the Iraqi trade unions where we have members or contacts;
- Organising AWL meetings, and helping to organise No Sweat meetings, on Iraq;
- Organising collections for the Iraqi trade unions on street stalls.
In some areas it may be possible to use the probable official TUC campaign in support of the Iraqi trade unions as a lever for getting local Trades Councils or similar to set up or sponsor local solidarity campaigns. Such cases should be discussed individually between branches and the office.
6. Timeline
In September branches should get routines solidly re-established after any fraying over the summer holidays, and set up the plans for their study courses and their October and November public/ open meetings.
In late September and early October we will make a major mobilisation for the student "freshers' fairs". It is indispensable that we have October public/ open meetings, and study courses, set up in good time so that they can be advertised at the beginning of the student term.
We will mobilise for the ESF in London on 14-17 October. Our aim there will be not primarily to affect the shape of the whole event, but rather to find individual contacts, and to take contacts with us and use the few days of intensive politics to help them develop.
The No Sweat Haiti speaking tour will be directly after the ESF.
The 4 December No Sweat conference will be a major focus for bringing together contacts.
We will organise regional day schools on the weekend of 11-12 December to consolidate contacts and clinch recruits.
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Notes on implementation of AWL conference decisions
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This text went to the AWL National Committee on 12/06/04, but was discussed at the next NC on 05/09/04. Some of its practical points had already been implemented by then.
1. We decided to campaign for a "Third Camp" stand on Iraq, against the US/UK and against the Islamist and neo-Ba'thist resistance. The practical priority is building a solidarity campaign for the new Iraqi workers', unemployed and women's movements.
Action: Continue building IWSG and its initiatives. Continue seeking collaboration with trade unionists to build a broader solidarity campaign. Get more AWLers actively involved in IWSG. Seek to build in other unions networks similar to the IWSG network in Unison. Responsibility: Martin/ Sacha.
2. We resolved to campaign for universal, comprehensive, compulsory state schooling, and against the hijab, while opposing the new French law.
Action: Develop contacts for a campaign using the battle against a Christian fundamentalist foundation gaining partial control over a school in Doncaster. Responsibility: NUT fraction.
Some detailed policy points here were remitted to the NC. Proposal: schedule discussion, with written preparation, at September NC.
3. We resolved to continue promoting independent socialist election candidates, and generally an independent AWL profile, while also fighting for the unions to assert themselves within Labour structures, notably through the Labour Representation Committee.
Action: We have already, since our conference, done the independent socialist campaigns in Sheffield and Manchester. Further:
a) Build LRC conference. Intervene there with ideas of (i) a focus on union self-assertion in Labour structures; (ii) campaign for repeal of anti-union laws; (iii) no confidence in Blair; (iv) ongoing organisation. Responsibility: TU caucus.
b) Build pro-LRC networks in individual trade unions. Responsibility: fractions.
c) Depending on how much the LRC idea "takes off", consider possibilities for building local LRC groups e.g. sponsored by Trades Councils.
d) Approach AGS, Socialist Party, and hold-out Socialist Alliance groups to start discussions on a socialist presence in the 2005 general election, which we envisage to include one of our comrades standing in a selected constituency. Responsibility: Martin and Pete.
e) Approach SWPers and other pro-Respect leftists to discuss the experience of Respect and argue with them for a turn back to socialist politics. How much scope and leverage this activity can get will depend, of course, on how well or badly Respect does on 10 June, future developments within Respect, and how bad the internal troubles within the SWP are. Responsibility: Martin and Sacha.
4. We adopted proposals on AWL-building which prioritise getting out more, building campaigning No Sweat groups which reach out to a large audience, and organising public, collective, accessible AWL branch activity.
Note: The poor attendance at conference indicates that we have a serious problem with the level of morale, vitality, and activism of our members. Some general background to this problem - the effects of repeated disappointments on the older generation of activists, the broader crisis of socialist political culture, the diffuseness of the new politicisation and the consequent difficulty of getting a grip on it - has been discussed in our conference documents.
Additional recent factors seem to be: (a) Hopes raised and then dashed when the big numbers mobilised for the anti-war marches dissipated so quickly, with relatively few lasting gains for ongoing left-wing activism of any stripe; (b) The liquidation of the Socialist Alliance seems to have had a surprisingly adverse effect on our comrades' morale (i.e. the loss of a certain milieu - however limited it was, and however much comrades grumbled about it - has increased a sense of isolation).
On the EC we have discussed some ideas to see if they might help branches regain a milieu and recover morale - for example, local "global justice forums", or an effort to revitalise local Trades Councils. These ideas may well prove useful in many areas in the normal course of developing our work. We do not, however, wish to propose them as new priorities. They are not a substitute for the basic work of changing our culture in order to develop AWL branches with regular businesslike meetings and systematic and accessible public activities, and campaigning No Sweat groups. Any suggestion that those basic tasks can be set aside in favour of some new and easier priorities would be counterproductive. Moreover, the schemes in question are not necessarily easy sure-fire successes.
Action: (a) A drive to improve branch meetings, on the lines already discussed in our documents, so that they really become the centre of our members' political lives. Practical specifics: there should be minutes from every branch meetings (typed, or handwritten and photocopied, it doesn't matter), a copy of which is sent to the office; which are checked at the next meeting; and which include a list of who's committed to what activities in the period up to the next meeting. Organisers should phone any members who miss branch meetings to brief them on what they've missed and arrange their commitments for activity in the period up to the next meeting. Members who miss meetings repeatedly should be invited to discuss and, if not willing to attend and be active regularly, lapsed. With efficient branch meetings, we can efficiently organise paper distribution, regular and accessible AWL public activities (bulletin distributions, stalls, paper sales), and contact work.
(b) A renewed drive on education. Each branch should have a regular study course up and running by September.
(c) We now have a number of local No Sweat groups meeting regularly, which is a step forward. (i) Develop No Sweat groups in those remaining areas where we have AWL branches but there is still no No Sweat group. (ii) Build the No Sweat groups as active, outgoing, coalition-building groups which undertake consistent and planned campaigns (on the USAS model).
(d) Develop No Sweat in the colleges - where it has some of its greatest possibilities, but has not really been developed yet - through systematic work with No Sweat material in larger left/green groups.
Responsibility for coordinating all these: Secretariat and student committee.
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LRC: motion from Mick
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We should advocate that the LRC write to Labour Party MPs and PPCs, demanding that they sign a pledge of labour representation - for a programme of working-class demands. The LRC should advocate that trade unions target their general election expenditure at supporting those Labour candidates that support those demands
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LRC: items from EC report to NC 05/09/04
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LRC. First committee meeting is 6 September. We've organised an AWL caucus meeting before it. Ideas to go to it:
1. We argue for an organised, concerted campaign by the LRC to mobilise the unions to fight in the Labour Party - at National Policy Forums, in conferences, etc. - over the anti-union laws. We are proposing this not just as one of the LRC's one hundred and one good causes, but as the key priority.
2. We raise the question of the LRC advocating a challenge to Blair as leader. Maria and I felt we should not push this to a vote in the 6 September meeting, but we should make the argument that advocacy of left policies means little unless it is coupled with a will to challenge the leadership. CLPD is now making this same point forcefully, and we should pick up on that.
3. We tell the truth about the union leaders' climbdown at the 23-25 July National Policy Forum, and draw the conclusion that the LRC must be willing to fight for the more radical unions and the rank and file in other unions to take the initiative, rather than just hoping to nudge the Big Four into doing the right thing. Recall that the LRC of 1900 would never have been set up if its initiators had waited for all the big unions to come on board.
4. We advocate a drive to get LRC speakers to meetings and conferences called by local Trades Councils and similar bodies. (For example, Hackney Trades Council is organising a big meeting on working-class political representation).
5. We pick up on the example set by the RMT in the South West, where it is organising a local conference with the regional CWU and FBU on working-class political representation. Tony is pressing for East Midlands Region of the RMT to initiate a regional LRC gathering. We should investigate the possibilities of a London conference on working-class political representation sponsored by the London regions of RMT, CWU, FBU and Unison.
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Motions from Maria
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Motion on rewording the current model motion
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‘That we should change the wording of model motion on our website on Unions and Politics point 6. which currently reads “regrets the LRCs failure to call explicitly for the unions to insist on a minority report from the NPF and its failure to criticise the pact made at the forum; urges the LRC to take a stronger stand; resolves to call for our union to affiliate and argue for a stronger stand”.
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Motion on building Labour Representation Committee
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1. All AWL members should individually join LRC
2. AWL members to maximise affiliations to LRC from trade union branches (affiliated and non affiliated to Labour Party), trades councils and CLPs
3. Where there is an opportunity to form working groups/networks of LRC supporters in Unions and in CLPs on a national, regional or local basis which involve more than ourselves we should do so.
4. That we support Union based initiatives to discuss the issue of Labour Representation at local and regional level
5. That we work in the ‘big four’ unions to gain affiliation to the LRC at their Conferences next year
6. That AWL members on the LRC Steering Committee report back regularly to NC and that LRC strategy is discussed at NC meetings.
7. This strategy to include a focus on a critical approach to the trade union bureaucracy on issues such as Employment rights and on the call to replace Blair as leader of LP within both CLPs and in Trade Unions.
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Report to NC 05/09/04
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[MT]
[Section from this report on LRC is noted separately]
Last NC (12/06/04)
1. The NC discussed the 10 June election results. There were no hard-and-fast practical conclusions to implement. A discussion on possibly doing more local-community-focused activity was remitted to our session on implementing conference decisions, which will be taken at the NC 05/09/04 together with the more detailed "Autumn/Winter Plan" proposed by the EC.
2. The NC discussed the Leicester South by-election. An AWL comrade submitted a nomination for the Labour selection, but the NEC did not include him on the shortlist. The CLP selected a Labour right-winger. Respect nominated Yvonne Ridley. Most of the left backed a socialist who was standing as a "Save our Schools" candidate, who didn't do very well.
3. The NC started a discussion on publications. It concluded with Cathy asking for amendments to her draft motion (available on the website) so she could redraft. No amendments have been received yet. In the meantime we've gone ahead with a redesign of the paper (for the 23 September issue) and the transfer of our website to a new software platform. EC proposes we continue this discussion at a later NC with the aid of comrades' responses to the redesigned paper and website.
4. The NC discussed the summer school. Outcome: about 150 to 160 at summer school, around the same as the last three years (on some estimates, more contacts, yet more of our own comrades absent). A good collection.
5. NC members responsible for branches which don't have NC members. We decided the following:
Birmingham, Bristol, Cardiff - Mark S
Newcastle - Alison
Southampton - Mick
Northampton - Kate
Canterbury - Sacha
Scotland and Cambridge - Martin
These responsibilities have not been implemented yet, really, because of the holiday period. Time to start now.
NC decided to add York to the list (Patrick M) and Oxford (Sacha)
Other matters
Campaigning for secularism in education: I've discussed this a few times with Patrick as the NC member in the NUT fraction. I understand a discussion is scheduled for the next AWL NUT fraction meeting on 18 September.
General election 2005.We have approached the Alliance for Green Socialism and the Socialist Party both informally and formally. We're waiting for answers (should have them this month). We've also put a public appeal for unity on the record. The Socialist Alliance Democratic Platform, despite our warnings, has gone off on a unrealistic tack of appealing to the left to unite behind the SADP to form a new mass workers' party. The Merseyside "Campaign for a Mass Workers' Party" initiative appears to be subsiding into a small attempt to launch an SLP Mark 2.
Sales and meetings. In line with the autumn/winter plan document, the office has already started focusing on helping branches get a good routine of meetings and sales. We're keeping a table of sales results.
International. Some Polish Trotskyists have made contact with us (see, for example, the bit from them in the paper, "Warsaw 1944, Baghdad 2004?"). Our comrade Gary Scott, who reads Polish, has their material and promises a report on it. Correspondence is continuing. We've also had correspondence from a non-LPP socialist group in Pakistan, but their contours are as yet unclear. We're planning two further international meetings with co-thinkers in October (around the International Marx Congress and the ESF).
PS. The Worker-communist Party of Iran has had a major split. The two factions are holding congresses on 17-18 September and 18-19 September and we're invited. We should attend if practically and financially feasible; and pursue discussions with individual WCPIers we know. As and when the political documents of the split became available in English, we will circulate them.
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National Committee rules
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We discuss a version of these 'rules of functioning' each year, at the first meeting of the new National Committee elected by our conference. If the NC does not operate alertly, responsibly, and efficiently, the organisation won't. So these rules cannot be dealt with as a formality. We ask NC members to study them, and if they disagree with them, to say so, and argue an alternative; if you agree, operate them, and fight to make sure that others do so too.
1. Attendance
2. Childcare/money
3. Responsibilities of NC members
4. NC members and AWL branches
5. The Executive Committee and the National Committee
1. Attendance
The NC is the leadership of the organisation between conferences. It elects and monitors the EC, which must run the organisation from day-to-day; and it makes the major month-to-month political decisions.
To operate properly, the NC must take responsible and deliberate decisions on all the major political issues we face, and make sure those decisions are carried out.
Attendance-punctual attendance-has to be given the highest priority. Very few other commitments should ever take priority over the NC. If you think that you must miss an NC or be late, then you must contact the EC member responsible for convening the meeting (officially, and preferably in writing) some days in advance to give the reasons why you think the NC should accept your absence. NC members who miss three meetings without acceptable excuse may be lapsed from membership of the committee.
A token fine is imposed on NC members who arrive late for meetings and sessions. It is only a token: you should arrive on time because it is politically important, not because you want to avoid paying the fine.
2. Childcare/money
Childcare is provided at NCs if it is requested in advance. It is better all round, though, if you can make arrangements for your children to be looked after at home, with help from the branch, rather than bringing them to the meeting.
Fares and childcare expenses are paid out of the organisation's central resources, all but a contribution requested from waged members.
3. Responsibilities of NC members
a. Prepare for meetings. Read the documents, think about the items on the agenda.
b. Think in advance about what you want to raise. Inform the EC in good time about items you want to raise, so that we can prepare and we can inform other NC members. Currently the EC meets on Fridays, so you should inform us by the Friday eight days before the NC.
c. The constitution insists that comrades should raise all disputes and issues first on the highest committee they sit on. If you have an idea, a proposal, a grievance, a complaint, or an objection, take it to the NC first rather than starting by taking the issue to your branch or putting it to the general AWL email list. You can do this easily by posting a message on the AWL NC email list.
This emphasis on structured discussion is an essential safeguard for democracy. Otherwise we get a 'tyranny of structurelessness' where the loudest voice, the most forceful character, or the deftest intriguer rules.
Obviously exceptions can be made for emergencies. Even then, however, you should proceed in a formal, structured way. If the issue is very important, demand an emergency NC. If important, but less so, ask for a special EC meeting which you can attend. If it is minor, just contact the EC (phone the office, or send an email to office@workersliberty.org), and then take it further if not satisfied.
None of this suggests that comrades should conceal their opinions, pretend to think differently from their real opinions, or take a vow of silence when new controversies emerge in branches or on the general AWL email list.
d. Once the NC has taken a decision, all NC members are expected to fight for that decision to be carried out.
If you were in the minority on the NC, you're not expected to pretend otherwise. You may and generally you should explain your own view to members outside the NC. You are, however, expected to campaign for the NC decision to be carried out on the basis of discipline and majority rule.
If you disagree strongly with the decision, then of course you have the right to take the debate to the branches, maybe demand a second discussion on the NC, and ultimately take the issue to the conference. But if you intend to use this right, then you must declare your intention to the NC (at the time of the decision, or by raising the matter specially later); and even then you must observe discipline and support discipline.
e. The rules about taking issues properly through the committees apply as much - indeed more - to organisational and practical disputes as to high politics. And you are expected not only to observe these rules yourself, but to fight for others to observe them.
f. The NC has a duty to inform the membership about its political decisions and the political gist of its debates. Sometimes we keep matters within the NC - for security, because they concern the individual circumstances of individual comrades, or because we feel the discussion on the NC hasn't yet gone far enough to set a clear framework for a broader discussion. The NC has a right to decide when matters are to be kept within the NC, and individual members have no right to ignore these NC decisions. The NC also has a right to expect that its members won't gossip and chatter about trivialities of NC meetings.
4. NC members and AWL branches
a. The NC is a forum for political discussion and debate. But it is not only that. It is not a Senate. It is also a practical working committee. We do not have a big bureaucratic machine to carry out the decisions the NC makes. Either the NC sees to carrying out its own decisions - or no-one will, and the discussion is a waste of time.
Even if an NC member is not the branch organiser, he or she has a duty to see that the branch is functioning, that conference, NC and EC decisions are carried out, and that finances and fund-raising are in order. In the first place, NC members have a responsibility to set a good standard themselves as branch activists, doing their local work reliably and conscientiously. They must pay their contributions and paper money. If they don't, the NC has a duty to take disciplinary action.
b. An NC member who is not the branch organiser must function as a support and backup for the branch organiser, and not as an alternative organiser. You must try to build up the organiser's authority in the branch. and not undermine it in any way.
You have ultimate political responsibility, and in the case of a major political emergency you have the right to overrule the branch organiser and even the branch. On all routine and day-to-day matters, however, you should defer to the organiser. Where you have criticisms of the organiser, first raise them privately with the organiser in a comradely way.
c. Where a branch do not have an NC member, the NC will appoint one of its members from a nearby branch to take responsibility. This NC member will oversee the branch, help the branch organiser, ensure reports from the branch come in regularly, and deliver NC reports to the branch.
d. For the NC we ask for branch reports, and forms for these reports are sent out in advance. Please complete them carefully. The branch organiser will normally be responsible for this, but other NC members should also read the report before it is circulated, and are jointly responsible for what it says.
e. After each NC you must report back to your branch. You may also be asked to report to other branches which do not have NC members. Take notes at the NC meeting so that you can do this. If you miss part or all of the NC, phone the office to find out what happened. If more than one comrade from the branch attended the NC, discuss among yourselves who will do the report.
The core of your report, normally, should be the political decisions taken by the NC and why and how the branch should carry them out. We are an activist organisation, not a discussion circle. You should report political debates to the branch loyally, giving due representation to all points of view. Don't, however, gear your report to whatever disputes or squabbles may have caused most heat on the NC - gear it to what we need to do politically.
f. Try to make sure that your branch, and your branch committee, operate on the same principles of procedure as outlined above for the NC. Not only NC members, but also branches and individual rank and file members have a right to send motions to the NC. If comrades in your branch have ideas, complaints, proposals, grievances, of national relevance, then discuss them and get them dealt with properly. Major issues should be forwarded to the NC via the EC; more day-to-day political matters to the EC. Detailed practical issues should be dealt with by a letter or phone call to the Secretariat at the office.
The newest comrade with a serious idea to raise should get it listened to and considered properly. Aimless or cliquey whingeing, grousing and gossip are a plague in politics, and no part of democracy: they should he stamped on. Part of your job as an NC member is to fight to create and maintain the morale and elan in the organisation without which our political debates and decisions are hollow. You should fight against negative, carping, consumerist attitudes.
5. The Executive Committee and National Committee
The EC is elected by the NC to run the organisation between NC meetings. It is also responsible for preparing NC meetings, both practically and politically.
The EC presents minutes of its meetings, and a report, to each NC. Its report should provide the NC with the means to check on progress in implementing decisions from its last or previous meetings. The NC has a right and a duty to scrutinise the minutes and the report, though it should bear in mind that its job is deciding the broad political lines rather than second-guessing the EC on day-to-day practicalities.
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Minutes of discussion
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Present: Bruce, Daniel, Janine, Jean, John, Maria (late), Mark S, Matt, Mick, Patrick M, Patrick Y, Paul, Sacha, Vicki
Apols: Alison, Clive, Cathy, Jill, Kate, Mark O, Sean
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Autumn plans
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Martin introduced the documents "Autumn/winter plan" and "Implementing Conference decisions", emphasising particularly the issue of street stalls and sales.
Paul H: Could do other study courses than those available on AWL website. We had a successful series on South-East Asia in the South West London branch.
Vicki: Branch organisers should be freed from other responsibilities.
Bruce: We could have more news-related items in the educationals.
Martin: That's a problem because it distends the course. Contacts will turn up to "abstract" courses like on Capital, and we need to do them anyway.
Janine: Next general election?
Pete: We've been agitating for a socialist coalition in the next general election. The AGS has now agreed to make a joint approach with us to the SP. We've also approached the SP separately, and they said they would not respond until September. The Socialist Alliance Democracy Platform is going to go in different directions - some people are on the same "immediate new workers' party" tack as the Liverpool people.
Matt: We're going to stand one candidate?
Martin: Yes, together with seeking a broader socialist alliance.
Matt: Two candidates?
Martin: Maybe.
Matt: It would be good to stand a candidate in London.
Daniel: We should have a more positive attitude to the SADP.
Bruce: Need more discussion on "vote socialist or Labour" tactics.
Patrick M: AGS core is Labour Party members who were expelled or left over the Liz Davies selection. They are politically disparate and ageing but are quite active in Leeds, at least.
Martin: AGS is important because it is a possible pivot for broader socialist unity. In general terms we should take up the notional GMB policy of actively supporting only labour-movement-loyal Labour candidates, and push the LRC. We have to recognise, though, that it's likely that the "big four" union leaders will be able to hold their "grit your teeth and back Blair" line in the labour movement.
Bruce: Then "vote Labour and build LRC" doesn't have much grip.
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Next National Committee
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Saturday 13 November
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LRC
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Maria: LRC initial conference had about 350 people. Mostly the same crowd at the Campaign Group conference last year, but some more, e.g. more activists from the CWU. The prime mover is John McDonnell MP. The main organised groups - us, Briefing, Workers' Action. Socialist Action watch passively. The "big four" unions are not backing the LRC, though it has some supporters in those unions. It's more "hard left" than "Save the Party" etc. CWU, RMT, and FBU are the unions supporting. The conference elected a steering committee of about 40 people. Some of our comrades are involved. We have managed to win an argument about the involvement of non-Labour-affiliated unions. Its potential? A tool for putting pressure on the trade union bureaucracy. It can also organise disaffected Labour Party members. We can also make links with No Sweat, etc.
The first steering committee meeting is on Monday 6 September. The two key issues for us to press are dumping Blair and trade-union rights. We have to be able to criticise the trade-union bureaucracy.
There are LRC fringe meetings at the TUC congress and Labour Party conference.
John McDonnell wants to work towards having a delegate structure in the LRC. We should seek affiliations from labour movement bodies to the LRC.
I want to change the wording of our model motion on the LRC and the Policy Forum. What it says is true, but the fact is that we didn't push for the LRC to intervene decisively at the Policy Forum.
Ideologically, the LRC is important as a vehicle to argue our politics.
Paul H: The deal at the Policy Forum: do we know more details than were in the press? There's a lot of low-level official trade-union agitation about certain employment rights issues: can we pick up on it?
Mick: Will the LRC canvass Labour MPs and candidates on a basic series of working-class demands as a condition for support?
Janine: That could be a snare with Respect. I'm still not clear whether LRC is exclusively in the Labour Party or not. Nor on how we develop at local level from e.g. the public meeting our Trades Council has on working-class representation this coming week. If the LRC is Labour-Party-only, we'd be better having a local trade-union committee that works with the LRC.
Bruce: I agree with Janine. We have to work out the relation between "actively support only Labour candidates who support working-class policies" and "default support for Labour as a bourgeois workers' party".
Patrick: There is a real ambivalence in the LRC. Some people in it see as a purely Labour Party thing. How it turns out depends on who takes it up. We should try to shape it.
Mark S: In affiliated unions we should fight for no union money to Labour candidates not loyal to working-class policies. That doesn't cut across a default Labour vote.
Maria: National Policy Forum? LRC as such didn't have much input. Christine Shawcroft and Pete Willsman withdrew the union rights amendment when the big unions did their deal. The big unions retreated even from pushing on PFI, etc. CWU tails the big four, and the other unions are more right-wing. We have to tell it as it was. Mick's suggestion: yes, the LRC has a basic policy statement, and we could use that as a criterion. The LRC does have a focus in the Labour Party, but it is open to non-Labour-Party members. That's a fact. We've set up a little LRC network in Southwark, which includes some people who had dropped out of the Labour Party. The LRC will not support non-Labour candidates in the general election, but it does allow us to call Labour candidates to account, and to raise the question of better working-class representation.
Martin: We should recognise that the National Policy Forum was a big setback. The LRC will not get off the ground unless it can be convinced that its role is to intervene decisively in things like that National Policy Forum.
Janine: The approach of writing to all politicians asking them if they agree with a few union policies, and then supporting them if they do, is a snare. The RMT does it and so has ended up with an RMT group in the Welsh Assembly which is mostly Plaid Cymru. Important that the LRC supports public sector unions in industrial disputes against the Labour government and Labour local authorities.
Mick: The LRC won't be backing Plaid Cymru. But it can do a political checklist for labour candidates.
Duncan: Don't understand. If we have a policy in the LRC, we have to have the same policy in union branches. Then SWP can come in and say support Respect.
Mark S: We say: vote for labour movement candidates. But then we say we should raise conditions on which Labour candidates we support actively. The "confusion" is the confusion of reality. But raising criteria is a way of raising the issue of working-class representation.
Bruce: Mark is saying that because the world is complicated we can be incoherent. "Vote Labour and prepare to fight" no longer has leverage. Mark talks about putting conditions about giving money - but not conditions on whether to vote for those candidates or not. Woodley's argument is that the unions got the best deal available at the National Policy Forum, and it's now their duty to shut up and be disciplined. All AWL members should be members of the LRC? Does that mean active members?
Maria: Will the LRC be just another Labour-left wish-list outfit, or will it organise? There are people in it who do want to organise? I agree partly with Janine and partly with Mark S. Supporting industrial struggles? I think the LRC will do that. The LRC is important for calling Labour candidates etc. to account, but also for holding union leaders to account. AWL members join? Just get paid up so that they can participate in the structures when conferences and so on are called.
Motion from Mick:
"We should advocate that the LRC write to Labour Party MPs and PPCs, demanding that they sign a pledge of labour representation - for a programme of working-class demands. The LRC should advocate that trade unions target their general election expenditure at supporting those Labour candidates that support those demands".
Votes:
Motion from Mick: carried nem. con.
Motions from Maria;
1. Rewording model motion: carried nem. con.
2. Build LRC motion: carried nem.con
Section from EC report
Carried nem.con.
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Iraq solidarity
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Pete reported. Solidarity with the Iraqi labour movement is a major priority for us. But there are issues about how. The IFTU has a reformist orientation. The FWCUI is not quite a trade-union movement in the way we would understand, but linked organisations like the UUI have some weight, are politically important, and could be the first victims of repression if and when the interim government consolidates. Within the IWSG there have been problems - Ewa Jasiewicz has pulled out, then you have the people around the IFTU and the people around the UUI/ OWFI. The IFTU has the stronger links in the British trade union movement.
Martin added some details.
Vicki: We should have had more people on the Fat Cats Tour. What about Iraq Occupation Focus?
Paul: IOF have a very crude "anti-imperialist" line. What do we say about TUC campaign?
Daniel: We should be sharply critical of the IFTU. FWCUI is more radical and better.
Bruce: TUC campaign will focus on the IFTU. We should argue for the UUI to be supported too. Build local IWSGs? Or what locally?
Mark S: Should be more supportive of UUI and affiliated groups. Given that we can't get an umbrella campaign, we should put our weight more on support for the UUI/ WCPI.
Paul: The TUC's existing policy is not to recognise the IFTU as the only the trade union movement, and the UUI international support is mostly the Lambertist and suchlike.
Martin: We should not get cornered into exclusively supporting the WCPI/ UUI. Yes, we should defend them, and support their stand on many key issues, but we don't know where they will go politically, and our position of principle is support for the whole Iraqi labour movement.
Pete: Apparently one reason for the WCPIran split is disappointment with outcomes in Iraq.
Section of NC report on Iraq solidarity endorsed.
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NC rules of functioning
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Paul H introduced the rules.
Vicki: We should send the relevant bit to branch organisers.
Duncan: Add in "miss an NC or be late or leave early".
Pete: Use awl-nc e-list more.
Responsibilities for branches: confirmed, and agreed to add Patrick for York, Sacha for Oxford.
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Students
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Sacha reported. Main decisions of student fraction yesterday (1) big turn towards Third-Worldist/ greenie groups with No Sweat initiatives; (2) clear AWL presence on campus, sales, stalls, etc; (3) building a new left in the National Union of Students. Kat Fletcher, a former AWL member elected on a left slate as NUS President, is in fact carrying policies not very different from the old right wing.
Mark: Very important for every branch to get to freshers' fairs with stalls, sales, leaflets for meetings.
Daniel: Need a proper discussion about how to recruit to AWL from No Sweat.
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Chechnya
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Patrick M: A lot of people may respond by saying "bitter fruits of Russian policy", and saying that there's nothing special about targetting schoolkids. But there is something special. The hijackers are not on our side. It is also true that Russian policy has been brutal, and has included indiscriminate killing. We should support the right to self-determination of Chechnya. Targetting schoolkids is worse than indiscriminate killing, let alone incidental indiscriminate killing.
Mark S: Also condemn the role of the USA and Blair in turning a blind eye to Russia's brutality in Chechnya. Point out the dehumanisation caused by Russian policy in Chechnya, and the parallel with the fruits of Russian policy in Afghanistan.
Janine: Sometimes we support what people do but disagree with their tactics. In this case the "tactics" are so bad that it overshadows anything else. The idea that Marxism means suppressing human feelings and talking about "imperialism" instead is false. We should post something on our website.
Patrick Y: I agree with Janine. It's like the killing of contract workers in Iraq. We should expose the cover-up on the numbers, which are far higher than earlier estimates.
Sacha: Yes, some means are incompatible with progressive ends. But in this case the Chechens are fighting for liberation.
Martin: The whole operation makes sense only if you assume Putin is "better" - cares more about the kids that the hostage-takers did. Analogy? Cambodia.
Maria: We have to state the moral issues upfront.
Bruce: We are not pacifists. But what is the nature of a political movement that carries out attacks like the one on the school? It's like the Hamas statement: "the Israelis love life more than death, and we love death more than life". We should state our revulsion, but there are complications.
Matt: It's wrong to equate this with 11 September. 11 September was not linked to a struggle in the way that the school siege was linked to the Chechen national struggle. That does not justify it, but we should point out the destruction of civil society in Chechnya, etc. As far as I can understand it, the Chechen movement for national liberation has been crushed by sheer repression, leaving only a sociopath layer.
Daniel: We should not exonerate the hostage-takers, but we should also point out the responsibility of the Putin government.
Pete: Even hardened kitsch anti-imperialists were shocked. Look at what Trotsky wrote in Their Morals and Ours. We have to restate those ideas. Amoralism is a rejection of class politics.
Maria: A moral reaction is appropriate; but it doesn't contradict the fuller political explanation, it leads into it.
Patrick M: There is no equation with 11 September, but the point about 11 September was not just that it was not a direct response to bad US foreign policy, but also that those methods could not serve anything progressive. Chechen self-determination is unconditional whatever the methods of the movement there. The hostage-taking does not cancel out Chechen self-determination; and neither does Chechen self-determination justify the hostage-taking. The Russian repression should be indicted, but that does not justify the hostage-taking either. It's important not to treat all "terrorists" the same.
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Minutes, matters arising
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Paul: need more coverage on the US elections.
Janine: discussion on community activism?
Martin: EC asks for definite proposals, and then we'll discuss.
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Item remitted to next NC
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Hijab
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[MT]
Below is the text remitted to the NC from our conference on the hijab.
Proposal: that we deal with it clause by clause as below.
ADDITION ON HIJAB.
1. Against exclusion from education but for the prosecution of parents for withdrawing their children from school.
Proposal - adopt an amended version: We are for maximum inclusion in state education. Parents should not have the right to withdraw their children from school, or from physical education, etc., for religious reasons. However, we do not support the government's current drive to try to deal with truancy by jailing the parents of students who truant.
2. For a rule in school against the burkha and the veil.
Proposal - leave on table. I don't think it's possible to amend this without re-running the debate we had at conference in a backhanded and garbled form. "Compulsory inclusion", as propounded in our conference motion, would exclude the burkha but not necessarily some forms of veil worn at some times. Another problem is raised by proposing regulation by school rule rather than by law. The implication of a policy by school rule rather than by law is that students either move to schools with different rules or end up repeatedly serving detentions for breaking a rule - i.e. one form or another of ghettoisation of Muslim girls. (Normally, and rightly, schools cannot exclude students simply for breaking rules).
3. We should approach our Iranian and Iraqi comrades and build a joint campaign against the religious oppression of women in education.
Proposal - adopt an amended version: We should campaign for secularism and against the religious oppression of women in education, seeking allies especially among secularists and socialists in the mainly-Muslim communities.
(Explanation: the main problem with the existing text was the implicit identification of the Worker-communist Parties of Iran and Iraq as "our Iranian and Iraqi comrades", and the implicit overestimation of their general willingness to engage in British rather than exile politics).
4. The AWL must campaign against the growth of cultural relativism counterposing it with anti-racism and support for liberation. The AWL should not wait for groups in the 'Muslim community', 'Hindu community',' Catholic community' or any other religious community to take the lead. The AWL should actively aim to build support in every section of the working class.
Proposal - adopt an amended version: The AWL opposes cultural relativism and upholds universal democratic and social rights. We do that even if the overwhelming majority opinion in this or that community is hostile, but we also recognise a particular importance and responsibility to identify, link up with, and support secularists, democrats, and socialists in communities dominated by traditional hierarchies or religious authorities.